CUBES (Cambridge University Built Environment Sustainability) is an interdisciplinary research group led by Dr Alice Moncaster aimed at facilitating a quicker transition to a low-carbon, more sustainable built environment.

Find us and contribute to our group on:

Of all industrial sectors, the built environment puts the most pressure on the natural environment. In the European Union, it accounts for 50% of all extracted materials, 42% of the final energy consumption, 35% of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions and 32% of waste flows. It is evident that irrespective of which problem sits at the top of the policy agenda—resource scarcity, energy security, or climate change and global warming—the built environment has a key role to play across all.

Most of our past and present research focuses on embodied and whole life carbon of buildings and we are currently extending our work further to include embodied materials, resource depletion, circular economy, and – in general – a more holistic environmental impact assessment. We often use an industry-academia co-production of knowledge, as it has proved one of the most effective pathways to real-world impact.

We welcome collaborations from academia and industry to broaden our research themes and increase our impact.

The invited UK member of a major five year international project on embodied energy and carbon in buildings, working with 25 researchers from 15 countries to develop inter-Governmental guidelines. Co-leader of subtask 4 and lead author of the report on ‘Design and construction methods for buildings with low embodied energy and CO2e emissions’.

Design for Future Climates (D4FC), St Faith’s School 2011–2013

Consultant: Dr Alice Moncaster RA: Dr Vicky Cheng

Project partners: Verve Architects, St Faith’s School

Funding: £10k (Cambridge) as part of £100k project funded by TSB

Worked with design team and client to develop adaptation strategies for Victorian and modern school buildings.

Project Butterfly 2010-2012

Dr Alice Moncaster: Senior Research Associate, leading project for Cambridge, and wrote funding application RAs: Katie Symons, Dr Ji-Young Song

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